Why Valeris?
Valeris comes from the Latin valeo: to be well, to be healthy, to be strong.
Valeris is the second person future tense: you will be strong, you will be well. It is a promise and a conviction: with the right support, the right decisions and the right mindset, you will thrive.
This philosophy guides every engagement: strengthening leaders, teams and organisations so they become durably capable, autonomous and confident.
Lucas Challamel
Founder, Valeris Coaching. 30 years of technology leadership, from startup to international consulting. Trilingual and tricultural: France, Australia, Switzerland.
Based in Geneva.
The journey
30 years in software development, architecture and digital transformation. From Grenoble to Marseille, then Sydney, and now Geneva. I have built, led and governed technical teams at every scale.
General Manager Technology at NAB/UBank in Sydney, I led 100+ professionals, 12 agile squads, with a budget of AUD 30M+. I launched the first Australian banking chatbot and steered the integration of the real-time payments network (AUD 15M programme). Recognised as top 1% performer among 34,000 employees.
Back in Europe, Director of Engineering at Azqore (Indosuez Wealth Management), then CTO/CIO Advisory at Union Bancaire Privée, a leading Geneva private bank. I led two missions: first the modernisation of the data protection and anonymisation platform (non-production and production environments), then the coordination of commercial and accounting data migration as part of the acquisition of Société Générale Switzerland and UK. Most recently, Technical Director and Head of IT Governance at Talan SA for Switzerland.
Before all that, I co-founded and ran Infostrates in Marseille for 11 years (25 employees), with the full reality of entrepreneurship: P&L, business development, and technical delivery.
30+
years of experience
100+
professionals led
Top 1%
performer at NAB (34,000 employees)
3 countries
France, Australia, Switzerland
11 years
of entrepreneurship
Selected experience
2025
CHTechnical Director & Head of IT Governance
Talan SA, Geneva
Leading the IT Governance practice for Talan Switzerland (60+ consultants). Advising Swiss enterprises on enterprise architecture, AI strategy and technology governance.
2024
CHCTO/CIO Advisory - Private Bank
Union Bancaire Privée (UBP), Geneva
Two missions: modernisation of the data protection and anonymisation platform (non-production and production), then coordination of commercial and accounting data migration as part of the Société Générale Switzerland and UK acquisition. C-suite interface (CIO, CISO, Chief Architect).
2022
CHDirector of Engineering, APIs
Azqore S.A. (Indosuez Wealth Management), Lausanne
API and microservices strategy for wealth management platform (50+ client banks). Managing 20+ engineers. Legacy modernisation to containerised framework.
2016
AUGeneral Manager Technology
NAB / UBank, Sydney
Leading 100+ professionals, 12 agile squads. Budget AUD 30M+. First Australian banking chatbot (IBM Watson). Real-time payments network integration (AUD 15M programme, 45 people, 18 months). Top 1% performer.
1997
FRFounder & Technical Director
Infostrates, Marseille
Co-founder and Managing Director of a technology consultancy (25 employees). 11 years of entrepreneurship: P&L, business development, technical delivery.
Education and certifications
Coaching and transformation engagements
Team transformation
NAB / UBank
Sydney, Australia - 5 years - 100+ people
General Manager Technology. Vantaset coaching programme (first coached for 9 months, then rolled out to 15 tech leads and 100+ staff). Complete cultural transformation: from silos to collaboration, from 54% to 80%+ engagement.
+45 pts
engagement
x4
productivity
-75%
time to market
-60%
turnover
"People are far more productive and doing better work; in fact they're telling me they are ahead of demand for the first time." Rohan Anderson, Learning & Development Manager, UBank
"From a value for money perspective, it's been more than excellent. It has completely ignited our people in a new way of working." Lee Hatton, CEO, UBank
Technical coaching
Digital agency
Southern France - 6 months - 30 people
Senior technical coach. Introduced TDD/BDD, automated CI/CD pipelines, reduced technical debt, established code standards. The team became autonomous: tech leads now run code reviews and train new joiners.
5% → 65%
test coverage
-70%
prod regressions
-96%
lead time
-73%
technical debt
"Lucas transformed our approach to development. In 6 months, we went from a team that suffered bugs to a team that prevents them. That is exactly what we expected: a lasting transfer of skills." The Managing Director
AI coaching
E-commerce consultancy
Sydney, Australia - 3 months - 10 people
AI coach. Built an AI roadmap, trained the team in AI-assisted pair programming (Copilot, Claude), introduced context engineering and prompt design, deployed AI agents for automation. The team evolved from casual experimenters to strategic AI practitioners.
20% → 95%
Copilot adoption
+30%
dev productivity
-75%
documentation time
-83%
project onboarding
"The team is autonomous and enthusiastic. They share their discoveries, create their own prompts, and see AI as a multiplier of their talent, not a threat." The CEO
My approach
Every engagement starts with a structured diagnostic. No generic templates. No off-the-shelf frameworks. Solutions designed for your specific context.
Diagnostic
Understand your situation, your constraints, your objectives. Measure before acting. Interviews, data, observation.
Scoping
Define together the scope, measurable objectives and action plan. No surprises, no ambiguity.
Delivery & Transfer
Execute, measure, adjust. Integrated capability transfer so you become autonomous.
How I work
Directly with you
No juniors, no subcontractors. You work directly with me. Having a single, senior point of contact is part of the value.
Radical honesty
I say no to engagements where I cannot deliver real value. I would rather build a lasting relationship than chase another contract.
Capability transfer
The goal is your autonomy, not your dependency. I work with leaders, not for them.
Trilingual, tricultural, global
Native French, bilingual English (15 years in Australia), professional Italian. Three cultures, three ways of thinking. France, Australia, Switzerland: I have built and led teams across three continents, including offshore teams in Ukraine, Vietnam and Malaysia. I translate between business and technology, and between cultures.
Book a conversation
A 30-minute conversation, not a sales pitch. We will discuss your situation and I will tell you honestly whether I can help.